Iggy's Story
by JaMeSgRiFfItHs101
Summary: Iggy falls in love...read this...that's all I'm saying.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Hello, you...whoever you might be reading this!!! I hope you love Iggy because he rocks!!! Please comment. Oh yeah, and I guess I should say that Iggy and Co. does not belong to be but to James Patterson, who rocks the world!!! Oh yeah, and to my friend, Alicia, who came up with Summer!!! It starts out kind of slow but it will get more action soon! Please don't give up on me!!!

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Iggy's POV

I hate the school. "Why was I back here again? How could I have let this happen? Where was the rest of the flock?" I could not remember where they had been taken or even if they had been captured with me.

I felt around my cage, blindly, as everything else I did since the whitecoats from the school had attempted to 'surgically enhance' my night vision. I wondered if the flock was thinking about me now.

"Bring me Experiment 10642. I need another blood test," I heard one of the sicko scientists say from across the room.

Yes, I had become accustomed to the name they had given me; or rather, the number. I knew the whitecoat was coming and there was no way I was going to get a freaking blood test anytime soon.

One of the whitecoats reached toward my cage and grabbed my wing. I winced as he pulled me out, but only for a second before I sprang into action.

I flapped my left wing that the idiot was holding and I felt it hit solid contact with...his face, I was guessing. I spun around and kicked at his chin with my left leg and remembered all of the things I had learned from Jeb when he was working with us.

I turned down the hall and heard someone calling after me. It was an Eraser. You know, the wolf men people. I was tired from the testing I had been through and I knew I could not outrun them for long.

"Hello there, bird boy," said Ari, the Eraser I despised the most.

I was aware of a cold metal pressed against my back. "You took Max from me. You even---"

"I don't even like Max. She doesn't like me. I did not take her anywhere from you except from away from this wretched place---" I replied.

I heard the trigger click. "I am going to kill you now."

I yelled and then I saw only darkness.

"No!" I screamed and I noticed someone hitting me on the shoulder.

"Iggy! Get up! Hello! Are you crazy? Don't strangle me!"

"What?" I opened my eyes and of course, everything was still dark.

"Hello, Gasser, is that you?"

"No, it's the aliens from planet X. Of course it's me!" Gasman said as he jumped onto my bed.

Yes, you read correctly, I was actually lying on a bed, in a hotel. I was actually not in the middle of nowhere!

If I told you we'd gotten the money for renting this, it would be a lie.

If I told you my creepy, little sister, Angel, who controlled minds, forced the hotel manager to allow us a free stay then you would think I was psycho, but that's the truth.

"Hurry up! Everyone's waiting on you to go get some lunch," Gasman told me, his normal voice had returned.

I groaned. "Everyone's up? Even Nudge? Lunch?" I asked.

Silence.

"Hello?" I asked to make sure the trouble maker had not just run away and left me talking to myself.

"Sorry. I just nodded by the way."

"Okay. Like that had much effect. Anyway, get out of here. I will come down to the lobby in a few minutes." I ran my fingers though my hair. I felt Gasman getting up to leave.

I was starving. I knew I was burning off calories even faster by flying.

I listened to the steady beat of five other pairs of flapping wings. I joined the rhythm and noticed the heavy wind, cooling the air.

"We're landing behind the trees over there." Then for my sake she added, "4:00 direction. Just follow my lead and we can get to the restaurant without anyone seeing our wings," Max warned.

"Max, I am sooo hungry. It feels like we haven't eaten in, like, days. I'm glad were here though. The view is really pretty. So which restaurant are we going to? I think the one over there looks nice. Are we going to that one Max? Are we? Is it too expensive?" Nudge stated as we landed.

When we did, I threw on my sweater over my wings to conceal them as I walked toward an area surrounded by restaurants. The food smelled delicious. That was when I heard a faint beeping. But being blind, I relied on my ears alone.

"Uh oh, Iggy, come over here," the Gasman called me.

I shuffled my feet slightly to make sure I would not run into anything in this new environment.

"Gazzy, what's up?" I said. "You guys go ahead." I told the others.

After they left I turned to Gazzy. "Our new project, what's wrong with it? Why is it beeping? We've got to stop it or it will blow!"

"Yeah, but how?"

"I don't know. Give it here," I commanded and he handed it over without any hesitation at the same time as I heard a familiar voice say, "What have you got there, bird boy. Or rather, bat boy. Bats are blind and that fits your description."

Ari.

I listened to people exiting the restaurants. With an audience, I could not fight these guys without being discovered.

Two Erasers grabbed my arms and I did not know where the Gasman had gone. They pulled me away from the fountain and into the backside of a restaurant.

"Where is she?" the one on my left asked.

"Who?"

"Who do you think? Maximum Ride."

"Um…"

"Don't play stupid with us!"

"Iggy, Iggy, where are you?" I listened to Max calling for me. Silently, I pleaded she would go away.

The Eraser on my right released me to get Max so I kicked the other one on the shin and he stumbled temporarily.

"Max, get away from here!" I warned.

"It's me, Iggy!" Gazzy called.

"Let's get out of here!" I yelled to Gazzy and sprinting out from behind the restaurant back toward the fountain.

I ran, hoping I would not run into anything, with the Gasman a few steps behind me. I kept running until it was too late.

In the cold weather, I did the worst thing I could. I ran and tripped into a fountain. Why is there a fountain in the middle of the street you might be asking? Well, if you weren't, I was. Shivers rushed through my body and I waited until I thought the Erasers might be gone to emerge.

With a deep breath, I swam to the side.

"Zephyr!" I called with the Gasman's fake identity he had given himself.

I meant to grab the edge of the fountain but instead I ended up grabbing someone else. It was a girl. Although I couldn't see it, I could tell she was looking at me like I was crazy. She wasn't the only one. I wasn't quite sure myself.


	2. Chapter 2

Summer's POV

I felt something cold grab onto my shoulder and I twisted around to see what it was.

A boy, tall, pale and freezing.

"Excuse me?" I stuttered at him. It's not every day that some kid comes swimming out of a fountain and grabs onto you, I mean… "Who are you?"

"I'm…uh…really cold," the boy replied but did not answer me directly. He looked really cold and I felt bad for him.

"What were you doing in the fountain?" I asked.

"I…uh…tripped," he said smiling weakly at me.

"Maybe we should go inside. You look really cold," I replied to him.

He bit his lip and shook his head. "I can't. I'm meeting my friends in a restaurant here. Zephyr!" he called. "Thanks anyway." He smiled at me as his friend came around. I guessed this smaller boy with white blonde hair was "Zephyr."

"Wait! You never told me who you are!" I tried to ask again.

"My name is Jeff," the boy answered me. "And you are?" Then to Zephyr, (although I doubted that that was his real name), he said, "Go ahead and find the others. I'll meet you inside in a second."

Zephyr gave him a questioning look then turned to me and hurried off.

"I'm Summer," I told him. "Nice to meet you." I stuck out my hand to shake his but he didn't give any indication that he was going to shake so I dropped my hand. He looked past me.

"What are you looking at?" I asked him.

"Oh, uh…nothing," Jeff muttered quietly.

"No seriously."

"Nothing! I'm not looking at anything," Jeff paused and quietly said, "Like always…" and I thought about that for a moment.

"Are you---" I started to ask.

"I've got to go! I need to go make sure Zephyr doesn't get into any trouble," he responded.

Jeff was not ordinary. Something was different about him and I wanted to figure out what it was. "Can we meet again sometime?" I wondered aloud.

"Yeah, maybe, I've got kind of a busy schedule but…I'm sure we could work out something," Jeff said back to me.

"What about tonight? Are you free? Maybe I could come over and meet your friends," I suggested. I could not tell him that I did not live with my parents. I was homeless.

"Sure. Okay. Actually, I'm living at a hotel right now. I'm in 412 at the Holiday Inn. See…catch you later," Jeff replied walking off.

I nodded and turned away. I ran into the forest. Jeff sounded very nice but something was odd about him," I thought. "But something is odd about everyone. We all have a secret. Of course, no one could ever know mine."


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Sorry I haven't been able to post! Thanks Shaeshae96 and cratermaker and squaremonkey for commenting!!! I've been sooo busy. I will try to get my Quil story posted after I get the notebook back from my friend.

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Iggy's POV

"So what did you do?" Angel asked me after I had finished my story about the Erasers.

"Uh, well, I invited her over to the hotel. I thought you might all like to meet her," I told the flock.

"You told her where we were hiding out. What if an Eraser forces it out of her now? You've only put her in danger," Max responded but at the same time, she sounded like she would enjoy company.

I was quiet as I listened to the flapping of five wings, including my own. Five pairs of wings, where was the sixth?

"Uh, Max. Is everyone with us?" I asked, trying to listen closely to the sixth pair of wings that was not there.

Max didn't reply.

"Max?"

"What? Iggy? Did you say something?" I heard Max answer me.

Her mind was on other things.

"Is everyone here?" I asked again.

"Where's Nudge?" Fang questioned. I guessed he was searching the air for her. "She was just behind us."

"I'll look for her. No offense but I am a lot faster at flying than all of you. I need you to get back to the hotel to make sure the Erasers haven't found our location yet. I'll meet you there soon. Fang, you're in charge while I'm gone," Max ordered and then I listened to her wings flapping and quickly the sound dispersed.

"Let's get back to the hotel," Fang said quietly.

"Ig! Are you freezing? Heat rises but I bet that water was pretty cold,"

the Gasman responded.

"Haha, very funny, I'm hysterical," I replied sarcastically. "Hey, at least the bomb stopped. If it didn't you would have been in a lot of trouble!" I reasoned with him.

"You would too."

"Whatever. Just fly."

By the time we got back to the hotel, I had decided I would take a nice, hot shower before Summer came to meet the flock.

As I opened the restroom door, the stream from the shower followed me out. I had expected someone to have come knocking on the door by now, hollering at me to get finished but they had let me have all the time to myself.

"Hello? Gazzy? Is Max back? Is anyone there?" I called but no one answered.

Was this a joke? What had happened to everyone?

"Hello? Guys, this isn't funny!" I yelled.

I listened to what sounded like footsteps but I couldn't tell if I was just being paranoid until someone grabbed me from behind.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Yeah I'm just posting two chapters today because I have been a slacker and not been able to post for a few days but also the website was down so don't give up on me, readers! You have not been forgotten! I love your review!**

Summer's POV

I had invited myself into the room after sitting outside room 412. I sat on the bed; no one appeared to be home. I heard the water running in the other room and hoped I wasn't intruding.

I combed my fingers though my hair that was a length that went past my shoulders. The water from the other room stopped and I got up. I was very cautious, because I never knew who was around and with a life like mine; I needed to be that way.

I walked toward the restroom where the water was coming from. The door was already opened and I hadn't noticed anyone come out. I heard someone calling but it wasn't important.

I turned and jumped on the figure in front of me. Just a second too late, I figured out it was Jeff.

"Oops! I'm really sorry. I thought you were… well, never mind. I didn't mean to break in or anything. I was just making sure nothing bad had happened to you because no one was coming to answer the door and… where are your friends?" I asked him. He was looking over my shoulder. "Are you---" I tried to ask again but he cut me off.

"Yeah, I'm blind," he said quietly.

"Oh," I whispered softly, looking at my ground. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-" Once again, I was interrupted.

"No. It's fine. Actually, I'm not sure where everyone went. They should be back soon. Do you want to sit down?" he asked me.

"Oh. Yeah, sure," I grabbed his arm and lead him over to the bed to sit down. "So…tell me the truth. You're friend's name is not really Zephyr, is it?" I wondered.

"Uh…no, It's his nickname," Jeff answered.

"Did you're parents come here with you?" I asked. I was determined to figure out who he really was. He had been evasive with me the last time.

He was really nice though.

"No. We don't…have parents," he told me.

"I'm sorry. What do you mean? Where are they?" I questioned.

"What about your parents?" Jeff asked me.

I was hoping he wouldn't ask. "They…uh…died. When I was born," I lied. I felt that I could trust Jeff. He was nice and didn't ask that much from me. I doubted that even he could listen and believe my secret. No human could. Unless he was who I thought he might be… "I'm sorry," he muttered.

"Yeah," I sighed, trying to sound sad. I had tried to figure out what had happened to my parents once before, but I hadn't really given it much thought. I wondered who they were or what they were like.

"Summer, I need to tell you something. I---" Jeff began. The door to the hotel room opened and in the doorway was Zephyr and three other kids I hadn't met but I guessed they must have been Jeff's friends.

"Hey, guys! This is the girl that I was talking about earlier. Max, Summer," he said, nodding to the tall girl on the right, but I guessed he meant the boy on her left. It wasn't like he could see them so how could he know.

"That's Nick. This is Summer," he pointed to boy. Maybe that girl was Max, I decided. "And that's Ariel," Jeff turned to a smaller girl. How he knew who was who without any of them saying anything, I had no clue.

I smiled and waved. Max waved back but she looked like she was suspicious of me. I saw her examining me. Ariel smiled at me and waved.

Nick had his arms crossed across his chest. He gave a short wave.

"I guess you don't know where Tiffany-Krystal is?" Jeff told his friends.

"Yeah, I didn't see her. If she doesn't show up, we'll probably have to go back to California," Max answered regretfully.

"F--nick and I are going to go. Come on, Ariel," Max added.

Jeff nodded.

"I'm going to put on some music, is that okay with you?" Jeff requested.

I nodded then remembering that he couldn't see it, I quipped, "Yeah.

That's fine with me."

He grabbed an iPod out of his pocket and made it loud so we could both hear. I took the time that he was setting up to look around the room. I glanced and noticed that there were no suitcases. How could six kids afford to stay in this hotel if they couldn't even afford clothes to go in a suitcase?

This could make sense if they were the targets I was looking for. I hoped they were because it would make my job so much easier. But they were so nice. Could I really do my job if they were who I was looking for?

"---like them, Summer?" I only caught the last half of what Jeff was saying so I replied by saying, "Yeah. Max sounds really nice. Ariel's cute. I don't know what to think about Nick yet. Does he hate me or does he just give everyone the silent treatment?"

"I meant, do you like The Summer Obsession? No. Nick doesn't hate you.

He's always quiet," Jeff laughed.

"Oh. The Summer Obsession. Yeah. They're okay. Actually I like…" I started but Jeff cut me off again.

"That's more of Nick's band. I prefer Yellowcard."

"Really? I was just about to say that.

"Cool. Well, I've only heard a few of their songs but I really like them."

Jeff seemed very happy that he had found a common interest between us.

We got talking about music by the end of the conversation he was smiling and laughing. I will admit he has kind of a cute smile.

"Wow. It's dark already. I mean---I'm sorry," I added quickly, not meaning to mention that because he couldn't see if it was dark or light anyway. "Maybe we can meet again. Unless you leave for California…"

"First, don't apologize. Yeah. I'm sure we could see each other again sometime. You said you're parents…well, if you live alone you could…I mean, if you want to…maybe you could stay with us here for a night. I'm sure Max wouldn't mind," Jeff told me.

That was so sweet. He was concerned about me. Also, this could be a good way to see if these people were who I thought they were. "Oh. Well, if it's okay with you. I don't want to be intruding," I excused myself but Jeff did what I hoped he would.

"You're not intruding. You can stay. It's just a night, right? You can find that song for me that you wanted me to hear," Jeff urged.

"Okay. I'll find the song for you," I agreed.


	5. Chapter 5

**Sorry but I"m not going to be able to post for a while because I'm gone all weekend! But I hope you enjoy this chapter to keep you interested. If you haven't heard of Yellowcard, you need to! They rock! They should own by story as well as JP because I mention them a lot but that is Alicia (Summer) and my band so just deal and listen to them!!!! Thanks again for those awesome people reviewing and having me on their alert list! You all rock! Oh yeah, and here's the song I have below. Tell me if the link works... POV**

I bobbed my head up and down to the tune that played in my ears. I tried not to shake the bed that I was sitting on too much or I might wake up Summer. She had found a song by Yellowcard that she had told me I needed to hear. So I did and I liked it so much that here I was, rocking out in the middle of the night.

_Remindin' me of my last night with you_

_I only need one more day_

_Just one more chance to say_

_I wish that I had gone up with you too_

_And I'm sure the view from heaven_

_Beats the hell out of mine here_

_And if we all believe in heaven_

_Maybe we'll make it through one more year down here_

The tune was really happy for such a sad song. I sat still and just listened to the lyrics. Summer stirred in her sleep behind me. She was graceful and I was sure she was beautiful; I could hear it in her voice.

How could I like a human girl?

She wouldn't like me anyway. If I really did like her, I had to tell her what I really was, right? I didn't know if she would hate me more for being a blind mutant freak or for not telling her that I was a blind mutant freak.

I sighed and lay down, discarding the iPod on the side table. I felt her breathing next to me and soon I too was asleep.

"Ig, get up!" something was repeatedly pushing against my side.

"Huh?"

"What happened to your friend?"

"Summer!" I sat up rapidly and felt to my side. Summer was gone!

"I wonder why she left." The annoying thing about Fang was that he was so quiet it was impossible to tell if he was still standing there or if you were talking to the wall.

"Where is Max?" I asked. No answer. Obvious Fang was gone and I was talking to the wall. "I'll just shut up now," I said aloud then rolled out of bed.

Who knows why I told Angel I'd take her to walk around? The streets were busy and I couldn't even tell where she was.

"Celeste wants to know why you're quiet today," Angel relayed the message from her angel doll that she carries everywhere.

"Sorry, Angel; I've been thinking," I answered plainly.

"I could tell you liked her."

"Who?"

"Summer."

Either it was so obvious a six year old girl could figure it out or she had been reading my mind.

"Yes. I'm reading you're mind. I'm hungry."

"Great. Let's---" I heard a scream. My sightless eyes flickered toward the sound of the scream.

"This way, Iggy!" I shrugged and ran toward the sound of Angel's voice.

"Oh no."

I stopped suddenly as I felt Angel at my feet. I knew what was happening. Erasers had found us and they were probably trying to kill some innocent girl.

As soon as I had figured this out, I had no time to react due to the painful blow to the back of my head. I rolled out of the way as another punch was delivered to the place I had been seconds before. I kicked by leg into the air and it connected with something solid and I felt the Erasers stumble back for the moment. I took this advantage to pick myself off the ground.

My wings burst through my sweater as I lifted myself off the ground.

That was when I heard the girl scream, "Jeff!" and I knew exactly who it was.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:Yeah I would have posted but I was camping all weekend! Have any of you read Ian Rider: The Untold Story? It's really good and by my friend!!! Hopefully you are still following this with me... I needed some action so please enjoy this chapter. I've read this story a lot so I'm sort of annoyed at the chapters before...10 maybe? So after that I might post more frequently. Keep reviewing!!!**

Summer's POV

"Jeff!" I cried. He gave a quick recognition of my voice. I knew he had been trying to hide his identity from me. Maybe now that he was here, the Erasers would allow me to go.

Jeff---who was actually named Iggy, came at me. I thought he was going to punch me first but he hit behind me so the Eraser let go of me.

"Summer, get out of here! Run!" He turned his head to Angel. "Watch out, Angel!"

"What about you?" I yelled playing my part for the Erasers. But now, I actually meant it.

"Get away from here! Angel--I mean, Ariel and I have got it handled! Get out of here!"

So I did. But it was only a few yards I had gotten until another one stopped. The leader of these Erasers grabbed me.

"Good work. But your delivery was kind of slow," Ari whispered in my ear. His claw out, he slashed me down the side of his face and I felt warm blood from the piercing.

Suddenly, he fell to the ground unconscious. I looked questioningly at Iggy but he wasn't near.

Ariel---Angel, just said, "I told you to leave her alone!" Then she ducked another Eraser jumping at her.

Angel could control minds. Did that mean she could read minds too? If it did, she would have known the whole time that I was--- "Since you're not going to leave, you can help us fight. You can fight them, because you're one of us," Angel responded to my thoughts aloud.

Iggy turned in my direction, surprised. "Angel, what do you mean?" he asked her.

"Come on! We've got to get out of here!" I stated, stopping Angel before she could say anything.

"Please don't tell him!" I thought to her.

"He already knows. You can read minds too!"

"Yeah. But no one can know."

"You've got to tell the flock. You can stay with us and help us fight and---and---"

"Fine," I replied aloud.

Iggy turned to Angel. "You can go up to the room. Tell them what happened but make sure they know I'm okay."

Angel shrugged and hurried back up to the room.

Jeff---I mean, Iggy, turned to me. "I'm sorry. You must think we're all---well, crazy. I couldn't tell you! None of us could," Iggy told me.

I wondered if I could tell him about me. He probably already knew from what Angel had said.

"Actually, I'm---I'm…like you. I have wings. My hybrid is human-avian as well but I have owl wings. A particular avian," I muttered quietly.

"Oh."

Silence. Neither of us could find anything to say.

"Thank you," I decided to say.

"For what?" Iggy asked me.

"For saving me. You could have just ran and saved yourself. It probably would have saved you some blood and bruises," I replied, glancing back up at his scratched face.

"We couldn't leave you there. They would have killed you," Iggy answered.

"No. They would have killed you," I thought but I didn't say anything.

They couldn't kill me. Not that I was that powerful. But because I had a mission. I was really glad that Angel was not listening into my thoughts right now.

Speaking of which, I wondered what Iggy was thinking at the moment.

Sometimes mind reading comes in handy.

I argued if it would really be polite to interrupt his thoughts, especially after he would have sacrificed himself for me. I decided it wouldn't be polite, but I would do it anyway. Who could catch me?

**Whoa! This does sound exactly like my friend! I scare myself sometimes!!! Review!!!!**

He was thinking about me. He thought I was nice and he was worried. He had been worried that I had gotten hurt. He cared about me… I cared about him too. How could I go on giving him to the enemy?


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Um...I don't know what to say other than that I agree to being a slacker because I haven't posted in a few days and I had a ton of time at school because we don't do anything since the holiday is coming...but I will keep you updated... thanks for everyone still following the story! **

Iggy's POV

"We've got to go to the school. I know they have taken Nudge. She would have come back by now if someone didn't take her," Max ordered us. "I think some of us should stay behind just in case she comes back," I was sure she was looking at the Gasman and I because we were always elected to stay behind.

"After what happened last time, Gazzy and Iggy are coming with me. This leaves Fang to stay behind because he's the oldest and Summer should stay behind as well because I don't know her skill and I doubt she's ever fought Erasers before. I want Angel to come with us," Max paused making sure no one objected.

Fang would have but he didn't want to anger Max. He was just standing off to the side, quietly, as usual.

"Let's get going," Gazzy responded quickly. "Something could have happened to Nudge already. We should have already gone."

"Gazzy's right. We should leave now," I said.

We all said good-bye and flew away.

I wondered what would happen now? It had taken three days already for us to fly to California. By the fourth day, my wings were protesting greatly but I ignored the pain and pressed on until we were there.

We slept out near the school and that day we decided to come by and get Nudge. Gazzy and I would be the diversion, which was incredibly simple.

We agreed to start a fire and conserve the bomb for later use.

Gazzy found some gas-o-line, which was lucky because I sure know I could never find it, even with its distinctive smell. I wondered why they would keep gasoline at a laboratory but I couldn't wonder for long because I took out a match and threw it on the floor so the fire started.

"Let's get moving! Someone is sure to see us if we hang around," Gazzy whispered. I nodded and felt him move to the right. His arm brushed up against me to assure me that he was still with me.

"Uh oh! I hear someone coming," I responded quietly. He grabbed my arm and pulled me into some room. I had no idea where we were so I won't even bother to describe what I heard and felt.

"---which means that Max must be here," one voice outside said and I sucked in breath.

"Unless someone was just careless. He could have been going through with the experiment---"the second voice began.

"I found Angel. I am very glad that Max has joined us again. I have sent Ari after her to make sure she does not leave again," a third voice joined them. This one Gazzy and I knew. We looked at each other although I could not see him. I knew it was one of those knowing glances that we gave each other.

The third voice was Jeb, the whitecoat, the one who had betrayed us.

Now, he was after Max. I had to do something. Gazzy was already one step ahead of me.

He jumped out of the room and punched the first mysterious talker, the first voice.

At the same time I gave a good roundhouse kick to Mysterious Voice #2.

He backed away. Maybe he stumbled away, I wasn't sure but I did not know where he was gone.

"Iggy!" the voice of Jeb crossed my ears and I paused in the middle of the second kick I was about to deliver. He grabbed my arm and I felt stunned. I couldn't move. Why couldn't I get away?

Gazzy hit the back of my leg. Jeb let go of me.

"Gazzy! What was that---" I asked as Gazzy pushed me away from Jeb.

"Let's move!" I didn't reply. Gazzy had obviously kicked Jeb over first and he just happened to over strengthen his kick, which resulted in hitting me.

"Iggy! Gazzy! Watch out!" In front of me, I heard Max scream. Something hit me hard in the back of the head.

Dizzy, I grabbed the bomb out of my pocket. This was a smaller size so it wouldn't make such an explosion. I threw it. A loud blast came from where I had thrown it and I went unconscious.

"Iggy! Please get up!" a familiar voice came into my head. I felt someone nudging my side. Speaking of nudging… "Nudge? Is that you?" I murmured faintly. It was so quiet, I was surprised that she could hear me at all.

"Yeah. You okay, Iggy?"

"Yeah. You?"

"You're the one that looks like you just died," Nudge told me.

I opened my eyes (not that it mattered), and answered, "Thanks for the confidence there, Nudge."

"No problem. Max told me everything. That Summer is actually one of us and I guess I missed a lot while I was gone. But I guess I will get to meet Summer when we go back to DC. Anyway, nice bomb! Max was kind of mad that you blew up, like, half the building, but she thinks it was pretty cool too," Nudge informed me.

"Yeah. Let's go back to DC. I want to see how Summer's gotten along with Fang," I told Nudge. I thought they probably hadn't even spoken the whole time. I knew I would be regretting the pain of flying back later.

"Why have I agreed to fly back so soon?" I thought halfway to DC from California. Yes, CALIFORNIA!!! All the way across the states. I must have lost my mind when I got hit in the head by that Eraser, before I blew up half the school. Well, at least I would get to spend more time with Summer.

I got back to the hotel a few days later. Max told me we would be leaving again very soon, because the Erasers knew where we were now.

I was really tired and sore from our long flight and I decided to lie down in bed. I wouldn't sleep. I don't sleep in the day.

"I cannot believe him!" I heard someone shout from the other side of my door.

"It's okay, Max. He's just being stupid," Nudge responded. I guessed she was talking about Gazzy because she rarely said anything bad about her partner in crime, Fang.

"What's going on?" I asked, jumping out of bed. For some reason, people don't tell me things. I'm not stupid or anything. Like this time, Nudge and Max ignored me and went on arguing.

"What are we talking about?" I cut in loudly.

No one said anything. Then Nudge responded, "Fang. He was just making out with Summer."


	8. Chapter 8

Summer's POV

Fang had his arm around me. He drew me closer. We had been talking a little bit and he had been really nice to me while the others were gone.

I always thought he liked Max until he told me that since we had met he had really liked me.

I hadn't really committed to Iggy or anything and Fang was really, really cute. I didn't know what happened but the next moment, our lips met. His hands were around my waist and my hands traveled to his neck.

Before I really knew what was happening, Max came in the room, trying to tell him that we would be leaving the next day. I tried to pull away because I knew Max would be mad at me if she really did like him.

When she came in, he grabbed me harder, like he wanted her to see me with him.

"Fang! Summer?" Max looked like she was struggling to say something and Fang let me pull away from him. Max glanced at me and then Fang and turned without saying anything else.

"Fang, I've got to go. I can't believe we… I thought you liked Max. She's really mad… I just---I've got to go," I moved away from him and headed to the door.

"She's fine. She shouldn't care what we were doing," Fang just answered.

"She likes you. You liked her. I know you still do," I said breathlessly.

I hurried to the door and left before he could say anything else. It wasn't like he would anyway.

I saw Iggy. Max and Nudge were walking away from him, arguing with each other. Iggy looked really sad. He walked into the room nearest him and almost ran into the wall.

"Iggy!" I said to him.

He ignored me. I felt really bad. This was my fault, wasn't it?

"Iggy! Talk to me, please," I added as I followed him into the room.

Iggy ignored me again. He had his hands propped up under his head and he was searching the room with his eyes. I might have thought he was looking at something if I didn't already know he was blind.

"Please. Say something. I'm sorry. I didn't mean---I just…" I didn't even know what to say.

"What? You didn't mean to. You just tripped into him or something. I just didn't think you liked him that much. You could have said something. I thought you liked---" I knew the word 'me' was on the tip of his tongue but he didn't say it. Instead he said, "Yeah. Well, it doesn't matter anyway."

Iggy turned away from me again. He went back to ignoring me.

"Please. Just listen to me! We were just alone together. Fang was being really sweet to me, I just---" I was glad Iggy cut me off because I didn't know what I was trying to use as an excuse.

"Fang doesn't like you. I mean, he likes you, but not that much. He was trying to make Max jealous. He did it before. I'm not saying you can't like him. He likes Max though," Iggy explained.

I considered this for a moment. Maybe it was true.

I felt bad for him. Iggy had just been gone for a week and by the time he had come back, I was in love with his best friend.

I had liked Iggy. I liked him now. I don't know how I could have done this.

I tried to say something. I wanted to tell him that he was right and that Fang had just done it for Max and that I really liked him.

Instead, I turned to leave and whispered, "I'm sorry," before walking out the doorway. I was sure he heard me.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Sorry this is the shortest chapter I've posted so far but I hope you like it. It's pretty bland but I will be posting soon since the tests are over!!! **

Iggy's POV

I reasoned with myself. "Had I been too hard on her?" I thought.

"Fang could have charmed her. Like he did Max and Lissa," I guessed.

"But Fang's not like that. Maybe she fell for him and he just agreed to make Max jealous. That sounds more… Fang. But maybe he wanted to make Max jealous and it could seem like Summer had started it so Max wouldn't be mad at him," I paused for a moment. "Okay, this is crazy. I think that one of my best friends took the girl I like, when she didn't even say she liked me back and now I'm---" I started thinking when I heard someone say, "But I do."

"What? Excuse me?" I asked. It sounded like Summer but I hadn't even heard her come in. Wow I was losing it.

"I said, I do."

"Do wha---oh," I had just been thinking that she hadn't even said she liked me. "Whoa! How did you---you didn't--- you're not---" I stuttered, sounding really stupid by now.

Summer laughed. I loved her laugh. It just sounded so joyful. It reminded me of happiness. "Yes, I'm like Angel."

I gave her my smile-scowl, because she was laughing at me.

"I'm sorry, I… yeah, because, I really, really like you," she said quietly to me.

"Yeah. Well, I really, really like you to," I responded, turning red in the face. Oh great. She could tell how embarrassed I was now… "I was… wondering… if you would like to go out with me." Summer rushed out on that last sentence but I gave her points for being brave enough to ask.

"So, you would…be my…girlfriend," I said.

Silence.

"Uh? Are you going to say anything?" I wondered.

"Oh, sorry. I just nodded," Summer responded.

Now, it was my turn to nod. Silence again.

I broke the silence by replying, "I'm going to check if Max is yelling at Fang or if Fang has locked himself in a room or---yeah, you get it," I then decided I was rambling.

Summer didn't say anything. I guessed she was nodding again or maybe she was just too shocked that I agreed to say anything.

This time when got up to leave the room, I made certain that I did not run into the door frame in front of Summer and look like an absolute idiot.

"Max, can we get something to eat? I'm really hungry," I heard Gazzy ask as I walked into the kitchen.

Everything appeared normal from what I was hearing. Everyone seemed to have forgotten about the earlier events. I hoped they had because if anyone picked up on it that Summer was my girlfriend now, I would never hear the end of it.

"Yeah, me too," I agreed.

"Where's Summer?" Angel asked. Why did she have to be able to read minds? I knew she would use this against me.

"I'm right here," a voice responded from behind me.

"Fang?" I wondered if he was in the room because I heard Nudge talking to the Gasman so I was aware that everyone else was here.

"Yeah."

"Sorry. You're just kind of quiet."

"When have you not known him to be quiet?" Nudge questioned me. I shrugged.

"Iggy? Do you want to cook something for us tonight?" Max ordered me casually. I knew it was a comment not a question.

I shrugged again. "Sure. Why not?"


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Please tell me this story is flowing because I just had an interesting mix up with the chapters...**

Summer's POV

We went to eat on the way to our next location. Max decided we needed to head west because the Erasers were figuring out where they were.

So we headed out to Washington state, because, well, they had never been there, even if I have. Being close to California could definitely make things easier.

By the time we arrived a few days later, Gazzy was hungry again. Max and Fang flew out to find something while Iggy was making something with Gazzy, although I'm not sure what. Nudge and Angel were talking and trying to talk to the Gasman and Iggy without getting too close.

The girls seemed to think the "it" was a bomb and it would have been easy enough to find out but I didn't need to be mind-reading. Not now.

I went to explore the area. I didn't mention it to anyone. No one was really paying attention to my escape in the first place.

I was checking out the sunset. I liked to look at it at night when I had nothing better to do. Nothing to worry about. Of course, this was always a lonely event, because I had never watched the sunset with someone. It sounded romantic but considering I hadn't known anyone besides the Erasers and scientists at the school, I had taken to watching it alone.

Silence swept the air and pushed my red hair into my face. I pulled it back, away from my eyes.

That was when someone grabbed me from behind. One of his hands grabbed my arms and secured them behind my back. The other snaked around my neck, daring to kill. I knew who it was so I didn't scream. I couldn't.

I knew he would stop me.

"Hello, Summer. Where have you been?" a sharp voice said in my ear. The phrase sounded somewhat childish but it should have, considering Jeb's son, the Eraser, was only eight.

I remained silent so he continued. "And…where are your friends? What about Max?"

Silence. Pain pulled at my arms at the way Ari was pushing them behind my back. He was strong. All Erasers were. I didn't risk moving, I was scarcely breathing. He was in a perfect position to kill me. But he couldn't.

"Good of you to bring them closer to the school. It makes it so much easier for us to get them," he drawled in my ear again.

"No…" I murmured quietly.

"No what? You don't want them to be taken? You wouldn't want to see them hurt, is that it?" Ari's quiet whisper sounded like a yell in my ear because of his threatening voice.

"You know what I want. You will give me what I want. I always get what I want." His arm moved away from my neck but his hand grabbed it. The long nails of a wolf pierced my skin. I gasped but knew that I shouldn't have because that was taking more breath from me and I needed all the oxygen I could while Ari was trying to take it away from me.

I sucked in again and his arm pulled out from around me. I dropped to the ground, breathing heavily.

I heard a laugh and turned around but only saw the steady beating of wings in the distance.

I groaned, feeling terrible. I couldn't do what he wanted. Why couldn't he just understand? I knew the answer. He was an Eraser. He wasn't designed for mercy.

I buried my face in my hands before heading back to the others. Right now, the sunset didn't look that beautiful.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: I love the sunset!!! Bombs rock!**

Iggy's POV

I heard footsteps walking back to the campground and immediately recognized the quick pace of Summer.

"Hey, Summer," I greeted.

No reply but a small sniffing.

"Summer? Where were you?"

"I just went out to watch the sunset," she replied in a quiet voice.

"Hmmm… sounds nice," I told her truthfully. I liked the sunset. It was cool colors. I liked colors… Summer remained quiet so I continued, "You sound sad. What happened? Are you that sad that the sun is leaving because, if it makes you feel better, it will be back tomorrow," I joked, hoping to cheer her up.

She laughed at me for a moment then I could tell something had happened.

"Seriously, what's up?" I asked her. I felt her sit down next to me. She laid her head on my shoulder.

"You're really sweet," she said to me. We sat in silence for a moment. I felt out to her face and wiped a tear that rolled down her cheek, even I do not know how I knew it was there.

"What do you look like?" I wondered.

"I…uh, sorry, I've never answered this before because I've never met anyone---like you---not that it's bad, I mean, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to---" Summer stuttered.

I cut her off, "Shh! Stop apologizing. Tell me what you look like please."

"Well, I have red hair, it's long, I guess you could say. My eyes are green. I'm 5'6 and 14. I guess that's pretty tall compared to humans but for bird-human hybrid, I guess it's about average," Summer muttered and I wrapped my arm around her as she began snuggling closer to me.

She tilted her lips up to mine, I came toward her.

"Iggy! Summer! Get over here," Max called from behind us and we pulled away fast.

"I think Erasers know where we are. We need to get out of here as quickly as we can," Max explained.

"Where are we going?" Fang asked.

"What about we go to California?" Summer wondered.

"Are you crazy? The school is in California. We'd be right where the Erasers want us!" Nudge suggested.

"Exactly, the Erasers couldn't think that we were going somewhere so obvious. It's risky but perfect," Summer told us.

I nodded. I guess everyone else did because no one had any complaints.

"Great. So when are we going?" I asked, wishing I didn't because I didn't want to know the answer.

"I thought we should go tonight but Fang talked me out of it. He thinks we will be too tied and we couldn't even fly to California tonight. Well, maybe you guys can't but I definitely could," Max responded.

"That comes from Max, who can fly 200 miles per hour," I smirked.

"Ig," Summer whispered into my ear.

"Iggy! Hey, I need some help with this…this thing. Yeah," the Gasman called me.

I knew he was talking about the IG3000, the bomb I had named after myself.

"Sorry, Summer. I'll be right back," I promised her. Then I walked away to help Gazzy with the bomb.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Merry Chrismahanukwanzadon everyone!!! Sorry this is such a short chapter but this was the perfect Christmas because I found out I have 1000 hits for this story!!! YAY! This totally rocks...**

Summer's POV

Iggy walked away from me. Tomorrow, I would be giving him away completely. I would be giving away the whole flock… This was impossible. I couldn't do it. I had to warn them… Maybe, I would tomorrow. I was tired tonight.

I woke up, when the sunshine arose, before anyone else. I got up and realized I was hungry. No one else got up for a few minutes so I lay back down on the ground next to Iggy.

I liked Iggy. No, I really liked Iggy. I loved Iggy. He is sweet and funny and sort of cute---for an experiment, I guess. The more I thought about him, the most I realized, I could sacrifice myself for him. I would sacrifice myself for him.

I was vaguely aware of a groan and then he laid an arm over my stomach.

He got closer to me and I stopped thinking and stared at him, wondering if he was just playing with me and if he was really awake.

"Iggy!" I pushed him lightly.

"No," he murmured.

"Yes. Get up!"

"No."

"Iggy!"

"What?" Iggy replied, alert by now.

"Nothing. I just thought you were messing with me," I told him.

He didn't say anything but he ran a hand across my hair.

"Angel? Come on, baby, get up," Max was whispered to Angel a few feet away.

Fang woke up easily and soon after Gazzy and Nudge followed.

As soon as everyone was awake, or at least, awake enough to be paying attention, Max ordered, "Let's get going. We've got to get going as fast as possible."

So we did and we flew to California. I was quiet that morning. I didn't want to talk to anyone.

I looked down and spotted Erasers. I knew what I had to do but I couldn't do anything. I glanced down again then called to Max, "We can't get down there. You've got to get far away from here. They'll kill you if they see you."

"What do you mean?" Max barked at me. I pushed my eyes away from her.

She knew.

"Why?" Fang asked. It was just like him to make that one word that he did say count for almost a thousand of anyone else's.

"How could you do this to us? We trusted you!" Iggy yelled to me, hurt.

I felt ashamed.

"What about you?" Max asked me.

"I don't matter anymore. I don't care if I get killed. Get out of here," I commanded.

Max stared down but did not obey and as I thought, Erasers were gathering below us. But we both knew it was too late. They swarmed us at once and I tried to leave. I knew they wouldn't hurt me, because I'd done my job.

Yes, I had been a spy for them. A messenger. I couldn't leave, I had to help fight. I turned back around and swung a kick to one of the Erasers from behind. He grabbed me.

"What was that? Very good job at playing the part," he snarled at me. He grabbed me around the middle and pulled me down to the ground.

I tried to run but he fought me effortlessly and pulled me down to the school. He unhanded me.

A voice spoke to me from behind. Without spinning around to see, I already knew it was Jeb. "I'm very proud of you, Summer. I think it's time you get some sleep."

I woke up a few minutes later. I couldn't even recall what had happened.

I had a major headache and then I had been hit with an injection that had made me fall instantly.

I felt drowsy and faint but I stood up. I searched around and realized I was on an operating table.

They wouldn't do this to me after I had just given them their prey. I wondered what had happened to them; the flock. They had trusted me. I felt a tear come to my eye as I thought of the vague change of them still being alive.

Max was supposed to save the world. Why wouldn't they keep her? What about the others? What about Iggy?


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Yes, Summer! We rock! 1000 hits!!! I emailed my friend "Summer" and she was shocked but pleased! This rocks! I'm very excited!!! Thank you everyone who has read this story, especially all of you who has reviewed!!! If you've never heard the song later to come, check it out on this URL: **

Iggy's POV

I gave a low moan and rolled over. Pain. I recalled a quote from a song I like called pain that says, "Cause I'd rather feel pain than nothing at all." I decided that the song was truthful to me at the moment because it meant that I was alive.

"Iggy? You are alive?" It was Nudge.

"Where are we?" I wondered.

"We're in cages. Like usual. You wouldn't wake up," Nudge mentioned fearfully.

"Yeah. I'm fine. Just cramped in here," I added.

"So how do we get out? We've got to get there soon. Then we can fly to the beach in Florida. Right, Max?" Nudge inquired.

"We've got to think about getting out first, Nudge," Fang pointed out.

Then I remembered… "Gazzy, do you have it?"

"Do we want to know?" Max asked.

I shook my head.

"It would blow me to bits, you know how powerful that thing is!" Gazzy quipped.

"Not the bomb! The lock-pick!"

"Sorry, they stripped us of everything. How stupid do you think they are?"

"Well, they haven't show us anything more intelligent so far. Summer?" Max answered.

I listened to the steady footsteps on the tile floor. It was Summer.

"Max? You guys okay? I'm getting you out," Summer explained.

"How can we trust you now?" Fang accused.

"Fang's right. You gave us to them. You wouldn't be getting us out!" Nudge agreed with Fang.

I wished I could trust Summer again. Maybe she could help us. Of course, that's what I thought the first time.

"Okay. I'm getting you out. I don't care if they catch me anymore. I will give myself up for you," I could tell when she was saying this that she was starring directly at me.

I blushed slightly even though this was not a 'I'm her boyfriend' situation.

"Well, get us out then. If you're really trying to help," Nudge didn't sound convinced.

"I'm working on that," Summer replied briefly.

A few moments later,(which I probably could have lock-picked faster), we were all out although it seemed like it had been ages since she had come into the room.

"So where to now?" I asked.

"That's what we can find out together," Summer remarked.

"Let's try this way," Angel suggested.

"It's not that way," Fang replied and I heard him walking off the other way so, of course, we followed. I have no idea how he knew but he did get us outside.

The security was pretty low at the moment so we all flew out as fast as we possibly could.

I listened to Summer's wings flapping next to mine. I was sure it was her and she wanted to talk to me. Whatever it was, I didn't want to talk to her. I didn't want to hit anyone so I stayed where I was and tried to get Gazzy to come over but he was talking to Angel.

Nudge was rambling on to Fang as usual and there was no sense in trying to get her to talk to me because she wouldn't let me hear the end of it if I stopped listening.

Max was in one of those thinking moods. "She has to decide where to take us now," I remembered.

"Okay, guys," Max stated when I felt that Summer was close enough to reach out and touch me. I was very happy about Max's good timing.

"We need to take a stop to get some food as well as to rest up for a while," she proclaimed.

There were no complaints for us. I figured that either Summer had been betrayed by the Erasers or she had just gone ahead and helped us out, who knows why? Maybe it was another way to gain back her trust. I doubted it. If the Erasers needed her for another mission, they probably would have had her release us in the first place.

We landed and I took out the sacred iPod that we had. Fortunately, the Erasers hadn't striped us of that. I pulled on the earplugs and turned it up loud so everyone knew not to bother me. I was thinking.

_Mission accomplished, _

Yeah, she did accomplish her mission, so why had she helped us out? _  
Do you feel regret breathing down your neck? _

Summer is a regret. I can't believe she did that to us…_  
Broken friendships in progress, _

I wish I could trust her again but…she took us to the school!_  
Do you ever wonder why your soul is in debt? _

_Light a match,  
But use it to find your way through the dark._

_When the sun goes down emotions all come out, _

Well, I bet the sun's down by now. _  
And your sapphire eyes keep staring at the ground, _

Actually she has green eyes… she told me she did…_  
You're burning all your bridges down,_

Didn't that mean there's no going back now?_  
You're burning all your bridges down_

I can't keep avoiding her. I'm going to talk to her.

"Summer!" I called. I had heard her footsteps so I knew she was there. She knew I would give up avoiding her after about three hours.

I heard a sniff. She was crying, wasn't she?

"Oh…Sum.." Max called us together for a meeting. So much for the great timing.

_"What should we do about Summer? She will know our location. She just left by the way," Max directed at me. _

I nodded. "We can't just leave her here! We've got to trust her. She let us out."

"She took us there," Fang and Nudge said together. That was probably the longest thing I'd heard Fang say in a long time and the shortest for Nudge. How is that for partners in crime?

Max continued, "I think we should go ahead to Florida. I, also think, we need a detour so they cannot follow our trail to the next location. We will only be staying somewhere else for a few days so I think we can camp it out again. I think we should have our first stop tonight on the border of Oklahoma. Next, we should fly out to Georgia, stay one night there and the next day pick up to Florida," Max reported.

There was no arguing. That was what we were going to do.

**A/N: Review!!!!**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Um...some second thoughts for Summer... tell me what you think?**

Summer's POV

I could not hold on any longer. I burst out into tears. How could I have let this get so out of hand?

I had worked for the school for my whole life. Yes, I had tried to escape but I was the only owl-avian-human there was even if these guys were the closest I would get.

I had never been working with anyone else. The flock had taken me in, and I had betrayed them.

I sighed.

I had to tell the flock that I was sorry. Would they listen?

I decided I had to try Iggy first. He was probably the one that would actually listen to me.

"Iggy!" I ran to him. I tried to dry my tears. I drew closer to him.

He moved away from me. He was still listened to the iPod.

"Iggy!" I said louder. His eyes caught mine and he looked away.

I had heard him calling for me earlier. If only I had talked to him then would he have been more forgiving?

I took off one of the earplugs and heard a few notes of "View from Heaven" before he turned it off.

"What do you want now?" Iggy asked irritably.

"I've just come back to say---" he cut me off.

"To say what? To say you're sorry. Is that what you were going to say? You betrayed us to the school," Iggy told me.

"Yes, but---" I tried to cut in.

"Sorry isn't going to work. I thought you…really liked me. Do you know how much that hurts to know that now I was just supposed to be your target?" Iggy was yelling by now.

"Yes, but---" I had a second attempt.

"You could have had us killed. You should know I hate the school more than anybody. I mean, you would too if they had taken your sight away! I guess it doesn't matter to you though. We could have been killed. It would have been a nice show for some Eraser to rip our throat out!" Iggy continued.

"Yes, but---" I tried a last time.

"NO SUMMER! I'M NOT LISTENING TO YOU ANYMORE! JUST GO AWAY!!!"

He turned away from me.

"IGGY! LOOK AT ME! I MEAN---NO, I'm sorry…that's not what I meant. I mean, LISTEN TO ME! JUST LET ME TALK!" Iggy was still not giving me any attention but I knew he was listening by now. "I'm sorry. I am sorry for everything. If I didn't bring you to them, they would have killed me. I know I shouldn't have done that to save myself. Please, believe me," I explained. He didn't cut in so I guessed he was silently urging me to continue, "I never wanted to hurt you! I…"I stuttered for a moment. Would I really have to tell him that I really like him?

"Girlfriend" seemed so far away from "I love you" at the time. So I decided I would have to.

"I couldn't hurt you. I…I love you," I answered.

"I'm sorry, Summer. I loved you too but I can't trust you after what you did to us!"

I tried to say something, a smart comeback, an explanation---anything, but instead I just burst into tears.

I just sat there, waiting for him. I would sit there all night until one of us would say something. I told him I was sorry and I would not leave until he understood why I did it and he would forgive me.

"Go away," he muttered after a moment of intense silence.

Iggy would never make the move so I decided I would.

I came incredibly close to him and angled my face towards his. "I came to you first," I whispered my voice was shaky then grew stronger. "I thought you were the one that would trust me when I said that I was sorry and that I would die for you. I thought you would be the one who would understand."

Iggy wouldn't say anything until finally he decided on saying, "You're going to have to earn my trust back."

So I would. I wandered off but waited until he fell asleep. I lay on his chest. "Don't worry, Iggy. I will win your trust back," I whispered to him although he could not hear it. Then I fell asleep.


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: Short chapter, sorry. Enjoy anyway! Review me please! I am soooo bored! I want your input! **

Iggy's POV

I felt as though I had only gotten moments of sleep, (which was actually probably not far from the truth), before Gazzy was shaking me awake the next day.

"Is it time to go already?" I asked wearily.

"Nope. You've got to make breakfast first," my partner in crime answered. I groaned and realized that Summer was lying on top of me. I gently picked her head up and moved it away and went to make breakfast for I knew Gazzy would not stop hitting me until I gave him something to eat.

I won't bore you with the details of that morning but soon after, in my opinion, much too soon, we started our travel. I woke up that morning with "View from Heaven" stuck in my head from the night before but being blind, I needed to rely on my hearing to make sure the flock had not turned directions on me. I was forced to work without the iPod.

I had to listen to that song to get it out of my head and that might sound very odd because you might be thinking "well, if its stuck in your head than you shouldn't hear it again" but no. It's like putting arsenic in a uranium bomb---it just doesn't happen. It's wrong and illogical…for me at least.

So I spent the morning and three fourths of the afternoon trying to land so I could listen to my music.

I had scarcely talked that morning and I was very tired. I realized that Max had not talked to Summer since she had released us.

Max had told me that I should be the one to talk to her and see if she was safe but so far, I didn't want her anywhere near me or any of the flock for that matter.

All was silent except for the voice in my head singing Yellowcard, then, out of nowhere, I heard a helicopter in the distance!

"Stop! Do you hear that?" I yelled to Max , who was leading the rest of us with Fang.

"The helicopter…" I tried again because no one was saying anything to state that they had known it. I turned to Summer.

"I promise that wasn't me. Actually, there no Erasers," I guessed she was looking off at the helicopter.

I heard it coming down. Toward us!

"They're news reporters," Nudge shrieked.

After having met my parents, I hadn't had the best experience with news reporters. Or any kind of publicity at all.

If you have forgotten about my…incident with the media, lucky you, but that would mean that I should remind you about my parents. I found them with help from Max and the rest of the flock. I was depressed to realize I was actually leaving them forever but I decided I had found where I belonged.

Instead, I was used as an item for my parents. Because of my wings, I nearly exposed all of us to the public. Before anyone could discover anything about me, I flew away from my parents and back to the flock.

I guess Nudge watched me freeze up when I heard it was the media because she asked, "Hey, Ig, you okay?" Before she could keep talking, Max called to us, "3:00 now! Let's move unless you want the to get a good shot at seeing us."

I turned right and heard the helicopter approaching. It sounded close by. I veered left as it come flying toward me. It was so close that I felt the wind of its speed as it past me.

"Why did this copter seem to only be after me?" I questioned myself silently as I dipped down then flew back up a little.

I heard the copter coming back and flew but then I realized, a little too late, that I was going toward it.

"Iggy, move!" Gazzy yelled before I could even say, "It's right in front of me, isn't it?"

I was frozen in place but a second later I was pushed on the right shoulder and I tumbled lower to the ground and then spread out my wings and soared up a again.

Directly following the push, Fang called, "Summer!"

"She's going to fall!" Angel added.

I was still in shock over what had just happened. All I knew now as that Summer had saved me and let the copter hit her instead. Even worse, there was nothing I could do to save her.


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: YAY COMMENTS! Keep reviewing! **

Summer's POV

I barely remembered a helicopter coming toward Iggy. He was just sitting there as if he hadn't heard the Gasman's call. I jumped in.

I pushed him out of the way. At first, I thought he was going to fall but I thought, maybe wishfully, that he caught the wind and flew back up.

It wasn't until it was too late for me that I knew what happened. I saw the helicopter coming at me and before I could react, I felt the metal hit the back of my head and I lost all consciousness.

"Summer," a voice in the distance. My head ached as I opened my eyes wearily and saw Fang.

"You're okay," Fang stated as more of a fact than a question.

I nodded to assure him but did not sit up.

"What happened?" I asked him curiously.

"You jumped to save Iggy. You were falling. I grabbed you," Fang explained as tersely as he did everything else. "You are lighter than Max," he shrugged jokingly.

I smiled.

Silence. I decided that he wasn't going to say something so I would ask the question I had been dreading. "Is Iggy okay?"

Fang nodded.

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding.

"Can I…see him?" I asked.

Fang nodded and got up to leave.

"Wait, Fang," I called to him. I didn't want him to leave yet.

He turned around to look at me again.

Then I just replied, "Thanks."

Fang almost smiled at me but then walked away.

I saw Iggy and called him over so he was sure of where I was. He knelt next to me.

"I'm sorry, Iggy. I'm so sorry I know you don't think that's enough but I don't know what else to do to get you to trust me again. To love me again. I understand why you hate me but if you don't love me, I can't love you either. Please, listen to me---" I apologized.

"Summer," Iggy replied softly. "Shut up."

I looked at him in anger. I was telling him how I felt and he was telling me to shut up. I almost slapped him but resisted.

"Shhh…let me talk. I meant shut up because I wanted to tell you that I understand," Iggy smiled at me. "They would have killed you other wise. I'm glad that you didn't let that happen."

I smiled back then argued, "No. It wasn't worth it. I shouldn't have done that to save myself. Please, believe me," I explained. "I never wanted to hurt you! "I couldn't hurt you."

"Well, you obviously gained my trust back with that stunt but never do that again. I thought you had died. If you had, it would have been my fault I didn't save you after you saved me," he replied back quietly.

We were silent so I listened to his thoughts to see what was going on now.

"I'm glad I can trust her again. I love her."

"Yeah. I love you too."

I smiled. His hand brushed my lips. He knew.

Smiling back he replied, "Yeah. I thought you were smiling."

**A/N: So cute, right? I love these happy endings but they're just so...unreal. So don't worry. This is not the end. Wait up! We have another few chapters.**


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: Another rather short chapter but at least you won't come kill me as Jake Caldeford implies. **

Iggy's POV

A few days later, we flew out to Georgia so we could stay there a few days and then travel on to Florida and from there, we would find a location where the flock, excluding me, could track down their parents.

Georgia, I'm sure, would be very beautiful if I could see it. The wind was nice today and I felt more energized and alive than I had in days. Especially considering that I had almost been killed by a helicopter and that wasn't exactly what would be called 'fun.' Stupid media.

Well, I was a lot closer to Summer over the last few days. So much that the Gasman told us to just get our hands off each other for a few seconds so I could help him make a bomb instead.

"Hey, hands are all you've got if you can't see her anyway," I had told him back but later I agreed to take some time away from Summer so I could work with my partner in crime again.

I was listening to "Ocean Avenue" when Fang and Nudge ran into the room and grabbed me by the arms.

"Guys, what's up? What's going on?" I wondered because with these partners in crime, I had no idea what they were planning to do to me.

"It's Max," Fang told me.

"How descriptive," I thought but I did not say anything because I was worried by now. I turned to Nudge to see if she would offer anything more but for the first time in a while, she was silent.

"What's wrong with Max?" I asked.

"She was just talking to Fang and then she looked like she was in pain and she fell to the floor. Fang and I hurried over to her but she was unconscious by then. We were wondering what you thought about it," Nudge explained.

I nodded feeling sick. What was wrong with Max? What if she was expiring?

I choked myself a little by the thought and they dropped me down next to the unconscious Max.

"We're going to get Gazzy, Angel and Summer," Nudge said.

Before I could say, "Are you sure it's a good idea for them to know?" I heard their footsteps leave and they were gone.

I ran my hand through her hair. "Max," I whispered in her ear. "Please get up." I shook her lightly and let my hand travel to her wrist and I could feel a vague pulse.

I leaned in toward her and heard her drawn in a breath. I pushed against her shoulder, and let the hand on her wrist travel to her hand.

I felt her awaking slightly and I sighed with relief. She grabbed me and pulled me closer.

I realized her lips were touching mine and there was probably a time in life when I had really wanted to kiss Max. This was definitely not it.

I heard Gazzy, Angel and Nudge come in. Followed by Fang and yes, Summer.

Max realized it was me and let go of me.

Summer had left the room. I heard her walking away,

"I'm sorry, Iggy. I thought you were…what… what happened?" Max asked me.

"You were unconscious and then you just woke up or something and started making out with me," I told her, smirking slightly at the awkward situation.

"I just got really dizzy and I passed out. I woke up but I was still dreaming and I thought you were…never mind."

I didn't ask her if it was Fang because I already knew. We all did. Except Summer. She thought I was cheating on her.

I sighed. This might be a little bit hard to explain.


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: Um...yeah...I don't know. YELLOWCARD ROCKS!!! **

Summer's POV

I was worried. Fang and Nudge lead me down the hall with Fang---yes, I said Fang, telling me what had happened. Nudge was quiet except for her input of a few details.

Something was wrong with Max and I'd been at the school long enough to know that any sign of weakness could be a sign of an expiration date.

I ran down the hall and my mouth dropped in shock for a moment, when I saw Max…kissing Iggy!

I stayed silent.

Iggy seemed to realize I had entered the room. He turned to me and he looked like he wanted to tell me. To explain everything. As if that would make it all alright.

I didn't want to hear any explanation from him. I'm sure he'd say he tripped into her or she just woke up and started kissing him.

I ran out of the room without saying anything. I decided to go somewhere. I didn't care where but anywhere… as long as it was far away from here.

This was the wilderness so I didn't have a hard time getting myself away from everything. I hurried past so many trees I couldn't count if I tried.

By now, I was pretty far into the forest. That was when I remembered I probably didn't know my way back but it didn't matter. I didn't care if I couldn't find the way back to the campsite. I didn't mind if I never saw any of the flock again.

I sat down on a big rock so I wouldn't get muddy because it had just rained here recently. I looked around, still totally annoyed with everyone.

I heard a howl and started to think of the last camping experience I had had when Ari attacked me. That had been before I betrayed them.

I began to feel afraid so I realized I should try to get back to camp.

I jumped into the air and caught the wind with my wings. The white and brown spotted wings of mine were a ruffled mess as I watched the colors on my wings flapping in the sky.

I breathed out heavily as I landed, knowing that now I would have to face the flock. I would have to face Iggy now.

I heard his voice but I didn't know where he was.

"Summer," he said.

I sighed. "Iggy, where are you?" I asked. I should at least get to see him when I'm talking to him. I couldn't even tell the general direction he was coming from.

"I'm sorry. I'm just to ashamed to face you, because of what I am going to say to you. It doesn't matter anyway," the voice of Iggy explained.

"Uh…ok then," I didn't want to mention how strange he was acting by not showing himself but I guessed he needed to say something important so I didn't interrupt.

I heard Iggy sigh. "I…don't like you."

I started to ask if he was serious but stopped and said, "You made that clear to me and Max…"

"Well, actually, I never liked you. I mean, I liked you but not… like you liked me," he told me. "I was just being nice but I…I thought you were cool but I never…really…"

"You never really loved me…" I trailed off.

"Yeah. I thought you would be mad at me."

"Well, I'm more angry now that you lied to me all this time," I snapped back loudly. I was hurt. He had said he really liked me before. Now he was saying this was all a lie?

"You're a really nice person but…I…love Max," Iggy responded quietly.

"Oh, you...wait, what? That was why you were kissing her. I thought, maybe, she kissed you," I replied then mentally added, "Or rather hoped."

"I…I can't believe you," I commented softly. Tears began to blur my vision. I couldn't cry. Not now. "Where are you anyway?"

"I'm sorry I did this to you. I've got to go now, but like I said before, I'm just too ashamed to show myself to you," Iggy's voice said.

I listened to footsteps going farther away and then nothing. I knew he had left.

I fell down to my knees and started crying. He never loved me, but I guess I still cared.


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N: I love the USED!!!! Anyway, I got some good reviews, you guys are pretty good at guessing. Maybe I should have you help me with the next story I'm writing because I'm kind of stuck. **

Iggy's POV

I decided to talk to Summer. I had to explain this…accident to her. What would happen if she didn't believe me? I pushed the thought out of my mind and decided I would be positive for this situation.

I heard Gazzy coming toward me. I knew it was him because he was laughing quietly. His footsteps were fast and he was either trying to et away from something or very please with himself.

"Hey, Gasser! Have you seen Summer?" I asked him.

"Summer…yeah. I don't think you should talk to her just now. Let's fly together. Come on, Iggy," the Gasman requested.

"Sorry, Gasser…I was actually hoping to talk to Summer. I can't do anything until I explain this to her," I responded, feeling bad that I was leaving the eight-year-old with nothing to do. I hadn't been spending a lot of time with him since Summer had joined us.

"Please…you can do that later!" the Gasman tried again.

"Sorry. I'm going to talk to Summer," I walked away before he could stop me.

A faint sobbing entered my hearing. I moved toward the sound. I tripped over a stick that I was unaware of and heard Summer yell, "Go away! I'm not talking to you anymore."

"Summer," I replied softly, picking myself off the ground and going over to her.

"I told you to get away!"

"No. I've got to tell you what happened even if you don't believe me," I was not going to leave until this was out.

"You've already explained!"

I didn't get it. I let the comment pass.

"Please. Listen to me. I was checking on Max and something happened but she wasn't exactly awake and…"

"And then she pulled you close to her and started making out with you! Is that what happened? Of course, there was no way you could pull away and obviously as soon as she was awake again she grabbed you and started kissing you!" Summer screamed at me through a nasally voice.

Had she really been crying because of this accident?

"Well, yeah. But she thought I was Fang. She wasn't exactly all the way awake," I told Summer.

"That's not what you said before."

I just looked at her (or in her general direction) with a perplexed expression.

"Before? What are you talking about?" I asked. What was she trying to make me admit.

"You know! When you were hiding behind the tree or whatever because you were too ashamed to show yourself. Stop playing with me, you could have told me you liked Max in the beginning," Summer cried.

"I like Max? Is that what you think" I was fired up by now. What was wrong with her? "I told you she…you know what, never mind. I don't care anymore. I told you what happened and you're not going to listen!"

"That's because you're not saying what you said earlier!"

"Are you crazy? I never came to talk to you earlier!"

"Yes you did! How come you don't remember? I heard you talking."

"Well…it wasn't me. If you just believed me…" I didn't continue the sentence. I turned to leave.

We flew into a city and we almost went dumpster diving but Angel persuaded some guy to give us food for free. Hey, that's the advantage of having a little sister that can control minds.

I was avoiding Summer and I knew she was avoiding her. Fang seemed to be avoiding me as well. Like I would really want to make out with his girlfriend?

Max was sitting next to me. She tapped my hand twice, which I knew meant that I was in charge until she got back.

She probably had not talked to Fang for a while so I was elected leader. Max seemed embarrassed by our…yeah, well, she seemed to be avoiding me as well.

I nodded and Max's footsteps disappeared. I wondered where she was going until I felt a hard kick on the leg underneath the table.

I rubbed my foot up the leg of whoever had just kicked me. It was thin and I realized it was Summer right before she said, "Stop touching my leg, please."

What made her think I liked Max? She said I had told her but how could I?

I stopped thinking and listened to what the Gasman was saying. He was making fun of the man who had given us the free meal. His jokes are so much funnier than anyone else's because he can imitate voices. Not just imitate voices, it's his power and he can duplicate any voice he has heard.

That was when it hit me. No, it literally hit me. Someone kicked my leg again but this was harder.

This could only be Fang. He coughed to get my attention.

"Gazzy! Are you done? Can we go outside? I want to talk," I said to the Gasman and ignored Fang.

He kicked me again. Ouch!

"Yeah, sure," the Gasman replied.

Gazzy followed me outside the restaurant.

"Gazzy! I can't believe you! Thanks to you, Summer hates me now! She thinks I like Max and I think I know why," I tapped my foot impatiently, waiting for an answer.

"Oops. Well, I was just playing a joke. Come on, Iggy. You can't tell me you've never played a prank before," Gazzy explained.

"Summer thinks that I lied to her this whole time. She's never going to believe me again if you don't say something," I responded simply.

"She'll be mad at me and…"

"And what?"

"And you won't hang out with me anymore. Since Summer's come you barely even talk to me. I needed you to talk to me again and leave Summer for a little while," Gazzy told me.

"Oh. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to spend that much time with her but I really-" I started to tell him but he cut me off.

"Yeah. I know. You really like her. I can tell. We all can. We look so happy whenever you talk to me. I guess it was pretty mean joke but you know I can't resist a good joke."

"Please tell her for me. She won't believe me. She hates me now."

"Fine, but you have to explain why you were kissing Max to me because I don't know what that was about. It gave me a perfect opportunity though."

"She thought I was Fang, ok?"

Gazzy laughed for a moment then I felt something run into me as we entered the restaurant again.

It was Fang.

"Why did you come out here?" Fang asked me.

"I was talking to---" Fang cut me off.

"I warned you not to."

"No, you didn't. You kicked me in the leg."

"Let's get out of here."

"Where's Max?"

"She told us to go already. Well, she told me at least," Fang replied sounded proud that she had told him and not me.

"But what about---"

Nudge pulled me into the air before I could ask where Max was again.

I groaned because I knew someone was after us or Max wouldn't have gone somewhere without us. I was also aware that we would be flying all the way to Florida as soon as possible, which gave me a reason to groan again.

**A/N: And I love Gasser but I wanted him to use his power because its awesome!!! Anyway, I would have made it an Eraser like some reviews suggested but I didn't think they'd care very much about their relationship...anyway, review!**


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N: Two songs for this one. The first is a song from the best band EVER! Yellowcard... The second is Avril Lavigne's "Keep Holding On" because they both seemed fitting.**

Summer's POV

We landed in Florida and it only took about… two whole hours! I am so tired. I'm glad we were already pretty near the coast of Florida. Of course, it was not close enough.

We got to rent a hotel here because we would be staying for a while unless an Eraser figured us out…or more media. I was ready to settle down for a little while so I hoped that wouldn't happen.

Fang lent me the iPod because he was going to try to see if Max had made it here. He was going to wait in the lobby. He said he wanted to stay by himself so I didn't argue. Hey, that's Fang for you!

Iggy and Gazzy came in the room while I was listening to "Only One."

_I feel so broken up (so broken up)  
And I give up (I give up)  
I just want to tell you so you know_

_Here I go, scream my lungs out and try to get to you  
You are my only one  
I let go, but there's just no one that gets me like you  
You are my only, my only one_

I'm sure I would be thinking of Iggy during this song… "you are my only, my only one" but right now, I was busy ignoring him.

"Hey, Summer," Iggy said.

I nodded my head to the beat some more.

"Summer!" Gazzy yelled.

I let one of the earphones slide out of my ear.

"What?" I asked, slightly more coldly than I intended.

"Gazzy wants to tell you why you heard 'me' saying I love Max," Iggy smiled at the Gasman, his arms crossed.

Gazzy sighed. "Yeah. That was me. I can imitate voices. It was just a joke."

"That's why you wouldn't let me see you?" I asked.

The Gasman hung his head and nodded.

"You were spending a lot of time with Iggy and I was lonely but I'll give him back. It was a joke. I hope you're not _that_ mad at me," Gazzy explained to me.

This was really confusing. The eight-year old has voice imitations…great. That is great. I guess I can't let him get onto my bad side again.

"Oh. Well---" I cut off, not having anything to say.

"Can I go now? I'm hungry again," the Gasman turned to Iggy.

Iggy nodded.

"I'm sorry about him. I hope you believe that I don't like Max. She thought I was Fang because he was there when she went unconscious but it was really me," Iggy told me.

I nodded. I believed him. Then I remembered he couldn't see me nodding so I answered, "Yes."

It was his turn to nod now.

I moved toward him. Once again, I angled my face to his. Maybe he would kiss me…but maybe not.

He moved back. He sighed and bit his lip like he was angry.

"What wrong?" I wondered. "What are you thinking about?"

Iggy shook his head. He wouldn't tell me for a moment, then replied, "I'm thinking about the school! Erasers! Us being genetically modified! This sucks. Everything sucks. Live is a total suckfest!" Iggy shouted.

"What do you mean? What about---" I replied.

"No. It sucks for us to be…mutant freaks like we are. It's horrible to always have to be running away from these guys because they could kill you at every turn. It sucks to be blind!" Iggy cried.

"I'm sorry you're blind. I'm sorry about everything. I wish we weren't…like this," I told him truthfully. I think I calmed him down.

He nodded. "Yeah. I'm going to go. I've got to find Fang. I'll be back later," Iggy commented and hurried out of the room.

I felt sorry for him because…well, I understand how he felt. This whole school thing just really stinks.

Why did everything have to be so difficult? We couldn't get one kiss without someone calling that Erasers were after us.

I grabbed the iPod again and turned to the song I was in the mood for at the moment.

_So far away  
I wish you were here _

You seem far away, can't you just stay with me for a while?_  
Before it's too late  
This could all disappear _

Iggy, don't leave. Don't keep walking away!

_Before the doors close  
And it comes to an end _

What if something happens to us?_  
With you by my side  
I will fight and defend  
I'll fight and defend, yeah, yeah_

Yeah, but whatever happens, I will save you.

_Keep holdin' on_

We've made it this far, keep holding in._  
Cause you know we'll make it through  
We'll make it through _

We can make it through. We can stay alive together…_  
Just, stay strong_

Just stay strong. Please, I can because of you._  
Cause you know I'm here for you  
I'm here for you _

I can save you. Remember, I'm here for you._  
There's nothing you can say  
nothing you can say  
Nothing you can do  
nothing you can do  
There's no other way when it comes to the truth_

Yes. We can't avoid this situation…_  
So, keep holding on  
Cause you know we'll make it through  
We'll make it through _

I know we can stay survive anything together…_  
_

I made myself believe this but a few days later, I would be proved wrong.


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N: I need 47 more hits to reach 2000! READ AND REVIEW!!!...and enjoy! **

Iggy's POV

Fang had not seen Max all day when I came down to check on him. I stayed in the lobby with him for a while, but since we were just sitting there it felt like forever.

Fang was used to sitting, not doing anything, for long periods of time and he told me I could go back up to our room.

I didn't reject and I went back up to the room as quickly as I could.

I was worried. Where was Max?

I was tired as well. It must be around ten already, I decided as I made my way back to the room.

I walked in and Nudge was talking to Summer. Both of them were on beds, listening to the iPod that was hooked up.

"Hey, Iggy! You look tired. Has Max shown up yet? I wonder how long were staying here? Look at the view…oops, sorry. I want to go to the beach!" Nudge stated.

I shrugged and joined Summer, who was sitting a bed. A few moments later, Nudge went to tuck Angel into bed and for Summer and I there was only a few minutes before we all fell asleep.

I was the first to wake. I was tired when I did so I decided it was still nighttime. I heard something banging on the door. Summer was still sleeping. "What if it was an Eraser?" I thought immediately.

"Wake up!" I shook Summer. She was still partially asleep. I could tell.

"What?" Summer answered groggily.

"I think someone's here," I told her urgently.

"Really?" she asked calmly.

"No, I'm joking," I said sarcastically.

"Oh, okay," she answered serenely.

"No! I'm serious," I told her loudly hoping she would get up.

"Oh. What?" she started to wake up and silently I thought, "It's about time!"

"Let's get out of here!" I responded.

"What about the others?" Summer commented, sitting up.

"They're probably all safe already," I stated, wishing it were true. I had to get Summer out of here safe.

"If you say so," Summer trusted me and we both hurried to the window and I let her jump out first.

I turned to see if I should go back to another room.

"Iggy! Let's go!"

"Where are we going?"

"Beach!"

I didn't argue. We flew toward the beach. I hoped she knew where she was going because I was listening to the flapping of her wings in front of me.

We landed on the beach and Summer said she was still tired. I agreed and before we knew it, we had both fallen asleep again.

I was roughly pushed awake a few hours later. It felt like a few minutes.

"Iggy! Get up!"

Fang's voice sounded far in the distance. I stirred and sat up. The flock was there. I was sure fang would not leave without everyone else.

"What happened?" I felt the sand all over the back of my shirt and I vaguely remembered going to the beach earlier.

"You left us!" Fang muttered coldly.

"In the middle of the night, some Erasers came by and where were you? You flew down here," Nudge accused.

"I didn't think---" I tried to explain that I thought they had gotten out already.

"You didn't think! You left us there to get away from them!" Max added.

"I'm sorry," I said simply. Someone would cut me off if I said more so I stopped.

"Maybe you and you're girlfriend shouldn't come out here to make out on the beach next time!" Fang muttered.

Before I could say anything, Summer murmured coldly, "Excuse me?"

"Well, next time you should---" Nudge started but at that moment Max dropped to the ground.

"Max!" Nudge and Fang responded together.

Fang dropped onto his knees and reached toward her head. She pulled away.

"My head!" Max screamed.

"What's going on?" Angel asked.

"Stay back!" Fang warned.

"Shut up," Max whispered.

"Max?" Fang wondered.

"Not you."

Max sat up. "The voice said we need to go to North Carolina. Information on our---" she stopped for a moment and I knew she was looking at me. "Parents…"

Everyone was silent until Summer commented, "What voice?"

Nudge explained Max's voice to Summer.

"We should spend some time here. We can leave tomorrow morning but not now," I replied to Max.

"Fine. We will leave tomorrow."

All seven of us played on the beach all day. It was nice to be enjoying ourselves for a while. I didn't know that our joy would only last until that night. So even when I listened to "It Ends Tonight" by the All American Rejects, with Summer, I didn't know how realistic the lyrics were.

Because before darkness turned to light, it would end tonight.

_When darkness turns to light,  
It ends tonight  
It ends tonight._


	22. Chapter 22

**A/N: This chapter is so sweet but its Summer's last. Please enjoy...**

Summer's POV

Everyone was still playing on the beach when night fell. Angel, Nudge and the Gasman were racing across the water, building sandcastles and playing with a Frisbee, like normal kids should do.

I was very pleased to see them happy. Nudge had been really nice to me recently and she smiled at me when she throw the Frisbee to the Gasman.

Max and Fang were sitting together, talking. It looked as if Fang was doing as much talking as Max. They were back together but even they wouldn't admit they had liked each other in the first place.

Iggy was sitting next to me. I lay down. Iggy stabled himself with one arm and faced me.

"It's nice out here, isn't it?" I complimented the scenery.

"Yeah. The breeze is nice, at least. I like the smell the ocean gives off too," Iggy replied.

Now, Iggy lay down next to me.

"So what are you thinking about right now?" I wondered aloud.

"It doesn't matter if I tell you or not. You can just figure it out anyway," Iggy responded, smiling.

"Hey! I was trying to be polite," I answered playfully.

"I'm just thinking about you," he smiled.

"That's not it. What's the matter?" I knew he could not hide something from me. He didn't look completely relaxed and I could read him well enough by now to know that he was worried.

"Nothing. It's just… I don't feel safe. I never do. I think that an Eraser will just come out of no where and bring us back to the school. It's worse now, because I can't have anything happen to you," Iggy commented.

We were silent for a moment.

Of course, I used the line I always do when no one has anything to say, "What's your favourite colour? I mean, no! I didn't mean that. I just meant---" I tried to explain.

"Um… I like red. What about you?"

"Red, as well."

"Like the boots."

"What?"  
"When I could see, I remember a pair of red boots with wings on the side. There's a song by the Weepies about it, so that's my song. It was the colour I remember the most, anyway," Iggy told me.

I did another sorry, quiet, "Oh." Like I had when I first figured out he was blind. We had been through so much together since then.

"If you could see again," I asked, "What would you want to see first?"

"Well, I like the sunset. I wish I could see it now," Iggy replied, glancing out toward the sunset even though he couldn't see it. He turned back to me. "But I'd really like to see you."

I blushed. Of course, he couldn't see.

"What about you? Wouldn't you want to know what you look like? Or the flock? Any of them?"

"Nope. I probably don't look good anyway," he laughed. "I'd like to see you."

We can closer together until our face was inches away and then he backed up and said, "Do you hear that?"

"No. I don't hear anything. Tell me what you're thinking about," I told him plainly.

"Never mind, I must be paranoid. I should stop worrying. I'm here, exactly where I want to be. I'm with you," Iggy answered. That was so sweet!

"Well, I'm glad I'm here with you," I told him.

I caught a glance helicopter pulling into view! This must have been what Iggy heard. No. Not now! Then a saw an Eraser in the helicopter with a gun.

Iggy yelled something We were showered with bullets and I pushed Iggy out of the way and tried to roll.

An amazing pain shot through my chest. I knew one of the bullets had hit me. There was no chance of surviving.

At least I knew I would die here, next to Iggy.


	23. Chapter 23

**A/N: I'm sorry, guys. I know you're going to hate me. This idea came from the girl who made Summer and it is not my fault although I will not deny this chapter was fun to write. Maybe you can convince me to write something to make it up for you. Anyway, enjoy it!**

Iggy's POV

I turned back around to Summer. She had saved me…and risked herself just like she said she would.

I didn't believe she was dead, although I did not hear breathing. I grabbed her hand and moved slowly down to her wrist to feel the steady beat gone completely.

I didn't care if the Erasers got to me now. They had killed Summer!

I leaned over to kiss her. I touched her lips to mine and for our first kiss, there was nothing. Summer could not kiss me back. There could never be anything. No passion, no love.

I heard a faint noise coming from the iPod in Summer's hand. I picked it up to turn it off and knew immediately what the song was. She had told me about it and right now, I could relate to it.

_And I'm sure the view from heaven  
Beats the hell out of mine here  
And if we all believe in heaven  
Maybe we'll make it through one more year  
I hope that all is well in heaven  
Cuz it's all shot to hell down here  
I hope that I find you in heaven  
Cuz I'm so...  
Lost without you down here_

_You won't be coming back  
And I didn't get to say goodbye (goodbye)  
I really wish I got to say gooooodbye  
_

View from Heaven. I cried. She was really gone forever. And it was all my fault. Why hadn't I pushed her out of the way?

I knew I had heard a helicopter before.

Wasn't it me that said we should stay here just one more night?

I was sobbing uncontrollably now. One of my hands grabbed hers and the second was wrapped over her body.

The pounding of footsteps entered by ears.

"Iggy! Are you okay? We heard them shooting and---" Nudge cut off.

"She's not…" Fang didn't finish the sentence by the look of my pale tearstained face.

"Iggy, don't cry. Come on. Let's get back to the hotel," Max responded trying to push me away.

I grabbed onto Summer's body and sobbed over it.

"No! I'm not leaving. I can leave---especially because this whole thing was my fault. I can't just leave her here," I yelled.

"Come on, Iggy, we've got to go!" Angel replied hypnotically.

"Please, Iggy. Everything is going to be okay," Nudge stated calmingly.

"No! It won't. Nothing will be okay! They killed Summer!" As I said the words more tears rolled down my eyes.

"Iggy! Let's go back to the hotel," the Gasman added. I think he was scared to see me like this.

"Leave him alone," Fang warned.

I could have hugged Fang right then and there and it seemed that everything that had happened between us over Summer had gone. Fang's not the hugging type and I was holding on to Summer so I couldn't jump up to give him a hug anyway.

I guess the rest of them agreed because they all left. I was thinking about all this time together and I started to talk.

I don't know who I was talking to. I knew Summer couldn't hear me, but I was sure that I wasn't talking to myself.

"Summer, I have to say that I'm sorry. There must have been something I could do and I know if you…were…" my words got cut off. I told myself I had to go on. "I know if you were still alive, you would tell me that it wasn't my fault. But I could have saved you…I know I could."

I paused.

"This whole time we've had together has been…the best for me. I love spending time with you. You're nice and fun and…you made life seem worth living for," I stopped.

"I know even when you…betrayed us to the school, you still cared. Through all of this, you cared for me. For all of us. I know, because I felt the same way and I'm sure you know already, but I forgive you. They would have killed you…but I guess they…did anyway. I knew when you were with Fang, you were thinking about me and when you betrayed me, you hoped I was safe."

Another tear rolled down my face. Was it really this hard for me to say goodbye?

"Yeah, I was kind of depressed when the night started. I hate how we just couldn't be together. We were always running, but you made it okay. You've told me before but it really hit me tonight that I'm glad I'm not at the school. I'm glad I'm with the flock. I am glad that I have…had you.

I wish you were still...here, but, well, I guess this is how you would have wanted to go... right on the beach with me, looking at the sunset like we've talked about before. The red sunset," I laughed at our similarity of liking red.

"Whenever I think of red, I'll think of you. No one else liked the colour red. I'm sure the sunset was really nice. I wish I could see it. When I was here with you tonight, it was almost like I could see again. I remembered red the best I have in a long time and I remembered staring out into the sunset like I had done at the school before I was blind."

I sighed.

"I just want to say that I always loved you and I always will even though your...gone. If the school catches me again, if something horrible happens to me, I will be thinking about you and how you made me feel when I was with you. And even though you can't hear this anymore, I have to say, Summer…I won't forget you."

**A/N: Once again, slightly heart-breaking. REVIEW!!! Tell me what you thought...**


	24. poem

**A/N: Sorry, this is not my poem so I give full credit to...whoever wrote it. As well as my Summer, who gave it to me. It is rather fitting for my story...thanks for viewing and people who read my story! Tell me what I should do for a sequel!!!! Or other story ideas completely!**

Just beyond the sunset  
Someone waits for me  
Just beyond the sunset  
Lies my destiny

Where the purple mountains  
Lie in deep tranquility  
There I'll find the treasure

Of love eternally

Just beyond the sunset  
Waits someone so fair  
Just beyond the sunset  
All alone they wait there

Their hair is golden  
The colour of the sand

Their eyes sparkle in the night

Like diamonds in your hand

Just beyond the sunset  
Lies a home for me  
Where the world is peaceful  
Like a paradise should be

Just beyond the sunset

Someday is where you'll find me


End file.
